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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23792722">Court of the Immortals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaerieRoses/pseuds/FaerieRoses'>FaerieRoses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Court of the Immortals [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Creepypasta - Fandom, Marble Hornets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:35:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23792722</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaerieRoses/pseuds/FaerieRoses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The inhabitants of the Immortal world only know how to hunt humans for sport; or, so they have been conditioned to think. Chains are cast off, worldviews are blown from their hinges, and tyrannical practices are turned on their heads through the simple act of communication between beings who have never known kindness.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Masky/BEN, Pinkamena/Original Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Court of the Immortals [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Court of the Immortals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>*Rewrite of a fic I did with my partner in 2012, includes OC's and shipping. Purely for fun, because the story still resonates with me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“BEN?”</p><p>Tap, tap, on the door. Shifting from inside.</p><p>“Are you awake yet?"</p><p>Heavy eyelids fluttered and a blurry picture of the fan on the ceiling came together slowly. Gurgling noises arose and the old bunk bed groaned underneath. The occupant shifted. He pushed himself up from the warmth of the sheets by his elbows and sat up to brush his knotted hair away from his face. He yawned, throwing his arms up and stretching his back. He finally turned his attention to the pink-painted door across from his bed, as he could hear the tapping growing louder. It was making him nervous.</p><p>“I’m coming. I’m up, I’m up.” He dragged himself to the door and pried it open, not without the wood giving a rather annoyed creak. Standing in front of him was a tall woman with a shock of bubblegum hair, the curls descending to her lower back. She had two fluffy ears that poked out of the frizz toward the crown of her head. Everything about her was so… bright. From her outrageous hair, to her shining cobalt eyes, the glitter on her face, and her painted nails. She was a gold sticker on an otherwise gray and black canvas. “Good morning, Pinkie.”</p><p>The girl snorted and covered her mouth to laugh. “Morning? Bennie, you little sloth, you missed breakfast AND lunch!”</p><p>BEN crossed his arms and leaned against the battered door frame. He scrunched up his nose. “I really don’t eat very much anymore, you know. You act like it’s a problem.”</p><p>“It certainly bothers me that you aren’t eating as much as you should be,” Pinkie nudged herself past her roommate and over to her closet. She rummaged around for a good moment before snapping a blue striped bikini and a pair of plain gray trunks from their hangers. “But I’m not going to dwell on that, since you’ve CLEARLY said your peace on the subject. No, no. I just think you should be getting out of our room more. Come down to the pool with me. Splendy has the grill going and everything!”</p><p>The elf’s eyes grew wide. Go out? Outside? He didn’t know what to say. He wandered to Pinkie and reached out to hold her arm, pondering the thought of all that water. It made his body cold to think about.</p><p>BEN was a stranger to reaching outside of his typical route during the day. He stayed between his bedroom and the kitchen, the latter of which only because it was required for him to attend dinner with everyone else. </p><p>The home he lived in with a few dozen other inhabitants was a large, dark brown building with just enough room to squeeze everyone in. Its pebble driveway led directly to a long, winding road, that went somewhere far beyond where BEN had ever thought of venturing. The grounds of the home were lovingly taken care of by Pinkie and the Splendorman, as they were the only residents who bothered to want to make the place look nice. There were flower beds around the edges of the walls and in little pots on the outside of the windows, the beds leading back to a fiberglass pool and fire pit in the rear of the building. As the warmer months had finally started rolling in, more people were coming out of their winter slumps and migrating outside to enjoy the sun while it hung around.</p><p>“I… uh. I guess I’ll go with you.” BEN shifted uncomfortably. He took his old trunks from Pinkie and scrutinized them. He wondered if they would even fit anymore. “I don’t have to actually go swimming though, do I?”</p><p>Pinkie giggled and shook her head. She took BEN’s hand in her own and strode from their room, only stopping on their way down to the backyard to pick up some towels from the linen room and a bottle of lotion. She herself was fine with roasting away under the sun, but poor BEN would fry until his skin seared off with how pale he was. The two dawdled as they conversed and playfully shoved each other heading through the sliding doors in the kitchen. They were greeted with a slightly overcast day, light wind shuffling through their hair.</p><p>Pinkie ushered her roommate over to the pool house, eager to change into her own swimwear so she could relax on the beach chairs. The elf rolled his eyes and proceeded into one of the two small changing rooms himself. There was a window just above his eye level, which he peered through with a tilt of his head. </p><p>In the fire pit beside the pool sat five figures, all dressed in black with odd masks covering their faces. One of them wore a dirty mustard sweatshirt over their black ensemble, and another had on ripped blue jeans with a light tan wamus jacket. The two seemed to be bickering, throwing their hands up and pointing at one another while the other three masked figures chattered among themselves. The figure in blue jeans finally slapped his hands down on his thighs and stormed off towards the patio. </p><p>BEN was intrigued by these people. He had never seen them before, and he tried to hurry and get himself dressed so he could investigate them further. As he was exiting the dressing room, he bumped into Pinkie who had been waiting for him at the door. She whined at him. “What took you so long? It was just a pair of shorts!”</p><p>“Shush. I was watching someone. Look.”</p><p>The elf slid the door open enough for Pinkie to poke her head out with him. He pointed at the firepit. “The Proxies? Why?”</p><p>“Proxies…?”</p><p>Pinkie motioned for BEN to follow her as she strode back to the edge of the pool. She plopped down and dunked her feet in the water. It was slightly chilly, but pleasant enough to invite anxious swimmers. BEN knelt next to his roommate, balling his hands into fists as he gazed into the blue waves in front of him.</p><p>“So, those guys in black.” BEN reminded Pinkie. He looked on again as the figure in the yellow shirt cracked their lighter and set a mound of old wood ablaze in the center of the pit. “You said they were called Proxies.”</p><p>“Yes! I almost forgot.” The girl’s hands fluttered excitedly. “They’re Slendy’s right hands! His worker bees, his spies…” She paused. “His debt collectors. They have a lot of skills under their belts, and Slendy usually sends them to explore beyond Rosswood.”</p><p>“R-Rosswood?” He gulped, raising his eyes toward the forest near the house. The place in question was called “Rosswood Park” by humans, and there were strict rules against going near it. The gnarled paths through the trees and thickets were the gateway to the Mortals; the human beings and their world. BEN had no desire to ever see a world other than his own, and it stupefied him to think that there were members of this small society who were permitted to venture out there. </p><p>Unbeknownst to BEN, now in a trance thinking about the Proxies, more of his housemates were making their way outside. A pale, rangy man with a rat’s nest of long black hair was shoved out of the kitchen’s sliding door. He landed on his side on the pavement of the patio. A hiss A hiss seeped out of his mouth as he tried to scramble back up.</p><p>“Gold! What the hell, man?!” He screeched to another man still inside the house. Gold hopped over his grounded companion and dashed away along the side of the pool, knowing the trouble he was in. He nearly knocked Pinkie into the pool as she went to make herself comfortable in a beach chair.</p><p>“I thought you’d land on your feet, Jeff! I’m serious!”</p><p>Jeff snarled at Gold and pried himself from the patio, bolting after him and getting close enough to rip the backwards yellow baseball cap from his head. He attempted to toss it to the other side of the pool where BEN was zoning out, but it fell pathetically in the water halfway across. Gold groaned as his prized cap floated away from him, until he noticed the elf with his hands on his knees. “Hey, BEN! Give me a hand, would’ja?”</p><p>BEN almost didn’t hear the Pokemon trainer calling out to him until Jeff chimed in. “I think the pool is too deep for him over here though. Just leave it, Gold.”</p><p>In BEN’s thoughts, the idea of doing this trivial favor for Gold in order to make some new friends for Pinkie’s sake seemed like a good idea. He nodded and stood up from the concrete, trotting over to the small set of stairs that descended into the water. While he was attempting to paddle over to Gold’s hat, he felt himself slipping further and further downward. He was quickly over his mouth in water and frantically waved his arms, hoping that they would catch the waves around him and push him up. </p><p>An onlooking Jeff and Gold noticed BEN’s distress and cast nervous glances between one another. Gold had no arms and thus couldn’t swim, and Jeff’s lack of a nose and lips eliminated his ability to hold his breath. While the pair grew more panicked, their elven housemate could hardly keep his head above the surface. BEN screeched out in an attempt to jostle anyone into helping him before getting swept under the blue.</p><p>Of the numerous people scattered around the patio, only one figure took the call to action and dove into the pool without hesitation. He was under for just a few moments before breaking the surface again with BEN held tightly in his arms. </p><p>The elf hacked and tried to cover his mouth. His cherry red eyes stung as he opened them, trying to identify who had saved him. He yelped softly. It was one of the Proxies, the one in the tan jacket. BEN fixated on the mask he wore, cold and white save for thick black lines around the eyes and lips. He struggled to come up with a reply, but the Proxy cut through the silence for him.</p><p>“Do you need a drink?”</p><p>BEN paused. “Wh… I, uh… drink?” His heartbeat rammed so loudly in his chest that it was making his already light head hurt.</p><p>“Sorry. Probably not the best thing to ask right now.” The Proxy snickered and set BEN down on the tiled stairs on the poolside. He joined the elf, shuddering as he tried to remove his soaking wet jacket and jeans. “I should introduce myself first, shouldn’t I? I’m Masky.”</p><p>BEN nodded and gave a slight smile in return. “Thank you, Masky. I’m- “</p><p>“BEN?! BEN!”</p><p>The two were ripped out of their chat by a frantic Pinkie sprinting towards them with her hands full of food. “I walk away for two minutes and y – you just! What happened?! And who are you?!”</p><p>The barrage of questions and sudden new face made Masky jolt. He sat upright, thankful that his mask hid his expressions. “I’m Masky… intelligence collector and headhunter for the Slender Man. BEN, was it?” He turned to the elf, who was red in the face and shaking in embarrassment. “BEN needed my assistance getting out of the water.”</p><p>A resigned Pinkie sighed heavily and knelt down to hand BEN a plate of finger food. He took it from her graciously, only glad to get relief from the awkward, drilling questions.</p><p>“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Gold was pretty upset when he came to get me. Don’t worry,” The pony girl turned to the pool house and looked back over her shoulder. “I’ll leave you be for now.”</p><p>As BEN watched his roommate retreat to change for her evening activities, he noticed Masky staring at him and flushed again. “Er… I’m sorry. She’s very overprotective of me.”</p><p>Though somewhat covered by the eyes of the mask, the Proxy’s eyes could still be seen in the shadows. They were so naturally dark that it was hard for BEN to discern that they were actually blue. He wished that he could make out more detail but didn’t want to get caught gazing for long. Masky noticed the way the elf’s head tilted as his sight averted and smirked.</p><p>“You know… I overheard you asking her about the Proxies.” He caught those cherry eyes again, the terror he saw in them making his smile wider. “I could tell you more about us, if you’d want to join me by the lounge. Personally, I’m getting a bit uncomfortable marinating in my gear.”</p><p>BEN watched Masky get up from the pool and pat him on the back in stunned silence. Shaky knees attempted to hold BEN up properly as he made his way to the pool house for his clothes. ‘It’s that easy?’ He thought. ‘He’s inviting me to talk with him like it’s nothing. Is it nothing?’ The elf whined in frustration. The only friend he had here was Pinkie, and he pinned the reason for that as them being roommates. He didn’t have to put in much effort to be friendly with her.</p><p>He did his best to hustle and change, as he knew Masky would be waiting and BEN didn’t want to keep him. He wondered why the Proxy had the time to spend hanging around the house when he held such a high position under the Slender Man. Before he got himself lost in a daze again, he yanked his oversized tee over his head and dashed across the yard. <br/>The cool air flowing in and the sun setting over the roof of the building was urging everyone still outside to finish what they were doing quickly. Orange and pink hues dribbled down on the world. Another day departing as soon as it arrived, in this land where time was an illusion.</p><p>BEN paused in the kitchen for a moment, as he could see Splendor Man motioning for him to come over to him. He was holding a cup of tea in one hand and a highball glass full of amber liquid in the other. He arched over the elf to hand him the cups. “Heya BEN! Masky came by and asked me to make these for him, and to give them to ya when ya swung by!”</p><p>“Oh… Thank you Mister Splendor.” BEN averted his gaze and smiled softly. He trotted up the stairs to the second floor, where a library sat at the end of the long hallway.</p><p>The house’s tiny library was rather dusty, and one could tell exactly which books were favored over the others that were littered with cobwebs. Some shelves were completely bare. The three bookcases in the room all faced one another, forming a reading nook with two soft floor chairs and a low table. In one of the chairs, Masky was curled up slightly and skimming through a thick book. He was absorbed in his own universe, his lips parted and seemed to be moving along with the text on the pages. The Proxy had removed his mask, and had it set on the table beside him with a hand resting over it. It was replaced by a pair of thick brown glasses that were propped up at the tip of his nose. They glinted with golden highlights as the lingering sunlight hit them.</p><p>BEN approached the Proxy, treading lightly to avoid spilling the drinks. He got close enough to place them on the table before Masky finally noticed his presence. Before BEN could say hello, the Proxy slammed his book shut and scrambled to get his mask back on his face. He nearly snapped his glasses in half trying to do so. “B-BEN! Please, please announce yourself next time!”</p><p>The elf clutched his own arm to his chest and yelped. “I’m sorry! I promise I only saw half of your face!” He took a step back and waited for Masky to calm down. The Proxy refused to look at BEN, his hands still holding the mask to his face. BEN gulped when Masky lowered them again, turning his head away.</p><p>“No… It’s alright. We’re supposed to wear these around Mortals. We look different to them.”</p><p>Masky’s tense muscles eased, and he faced toward BEN again. “You’ll just see me as me.” He tapped the floor in front of the chair across from him, beckoning the elf to join him. He obliged, sinking into the comfortable fabric. BEN snapped his fingers and nudged the two glasses he had brought with him closer to Masky.</p><p>“Those are from Mister Splendor. He asked me to bring them to you.”</p><p>“Ah.” Masky’s expression brightened considerably. “The tea is for you. I, er… didn’t know what you liked, and tea seemed like a much safer bet than whiskey.”</p><p>BEN was eager to take the teacup for himself. “You were spot on. Thank you, Masky.”</p><p>“Don’t mention it. Now that you’re here, I should introduce myself properly.” Masky’s midnight eyes flicked from BEN, to the door. He was permitted to interact with his fellow housemates, but he had a particular companion who wouldn’t take kindly to him opening up to someone he had just met. “You know that I’m Masky. I’m sure you’re curious as to who – or rather, what – ‘Masky’ is.”</p><p>“Well… you already told me that you’re a Proxy. So, you’re a Proxy.” BEN stated, earning a mirthless response from Masky.</p><p>“I mean, yes. But there’s more to it than just the title. I mentioned that to Mortals, I look different.” He gestured to his face, holding his cheek in his palm. “Proxies are beings created to carry out various deeds for the higher beings of this world. In order to accomplish these deeds without much notice, we’re given the task of finding a Mortal body to control and use as a disguise. If we can’t do something so simple, we don’t deserve to exist, and the weakest of us are killed.”</p><p>BEN mulled this over while taking a sip of his tea. He saw many of these beings around the house and running to and from Rosswood. He assumed that they entered the Mortal world to execute these duties that Masky had mentioned, which answered one of his laundry list of questions. He hummed curiously. “Higher beings? You mean like Slender Man?”</p><p>“Yes. There are more beings out there who utilize Proxy helpers, like Zalgo in his kingdom. You’d be surprised to know that in regard to sheer number of followers, Slender Man has very few of us. He only keeps the ones that he knows he can trust-”</p><p>“I’m sorry to interrupt,” BEN waved his hands a bit, a blush creeping to his cheeks as he shifted uncomfortably. “Not that I don’t appreciate the information, but… why exactly are you being so open about this with me? Isn’t this whole conversation a breach of confidentiality between you and Slender Man?”</p><p>Masky tossed his head back and began to laugh. He held his chest as he gasped, attempting to calm himself before he embarrassed BEN any longer. “S-sorry. There is no confidentiality between us when I’m speaking to another Immortal! Most of our other housemates know what we are. Hell, I even bunk with one of them.”</p><p>“Bunk? Who’s living with you right now?”</p><p>That comment made Masky’s entire demeanor turn. He scowled and kneaded his forehead. “Ah, knew I shouldn’t have mentioned that. I’ve been living with Jeff, and regardless of how many times we almost kill each other and destroy our room in the process, Slender Man refuses to reassign me. Maybe he thinks the constant stab wounds are good for my character.”</p><p>BEN jolted at that. He took a few moments to look over Masky to see what he had meant. His arms were no longer covered, as he changed into comfier house clothes after he left the pool. Scars of all sorts littered the flesh, from stabs, to bullets, to what seemed like animal attack marks. That uneven pattern didn’t end at his arms and invaded the Proxy’s neck and face. He had a pronounced divot that went over the left edge of his lips, and what appeared to be deep strings of scars left behind from a barbed-wire fence across his neck. </p><p>Masky noticed the attention given to him and knelt in front of BEN. He touched his own neck and trailed his fingers across the defaced skin.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. This is kid stuff, honestly.” He gave a sheepish smile to the elf. “I haven’t taken a hit I couldn’t recover from yet.”</p><p>BEN gulped, gathering the boldness to bring his hand to touch Masky’s marred forearm. The Proxy held back a shudder at the foreign feeling of a gentle hand as opposed to the cold steel of a knife. He dragged his dark eyes up to meet BEN’s. For a moment, he felt so small.</p><p>“You said that you control a human… so… what happens when his body can’t take the trauma?”</p><p>Masky’s heart leapt up to his throat. He felt a chill in his blood unlike any other. He snarled as he pulled away from BEN, a deep throbbing echoing in his chest. He floundered to get off the floor, grabbing at the bookshelf to hoist himself. BEN bolted up and held his arms out to ease the Proxy, but his efforts were rejected when Masky dashed from the room. BEN stood shaking in the reading nook, his fingers curling a bit as his arms fell to his sides. He bit his lip. He had no clue what he said to get such a horrid response, but he instantly regretted it.<br/>Perhaps it wasn’t that easy after all.</p><p>********************</p><p>Downstairs, steam billowed from the cracked door of a bathroom as the thunder of water crashed to the shower floor. Inside, Masky struggled to breathe, gripping the sides of the sink like he would fall through the floor if he didn’t. He had attempted to take a shower to ease the pain in his chest, but it kept getting stronger. The Proxy groaned in frustration.</p><p>“Please, settle down… stop it… ugh, you’re really bothering me in there, you know?!”</p><p>The shouting fell on the ears of a silent enemy, and in turn, Masky was startled to hear laughter as a response. A voice emanated from inside his head.</p><p>‘He kind of summoned me, didn’t you hear him? Little guy was worried about my health.’</p><p>“Tim!” Masky shoved himself away from the sink. He wiped the fog from the medicine cabinet’s mirror, glaring at his own reflection. His Mortal’s sullen, hickory eyes bore into him. “Why are you interfering when I’m in control?”</p><p>‘You’ve been in control for months now!’ Tim threw his arms up in protest. ‘I’m getting fed up with having to take turns living in my own body. I have bills to pay. And you pretty much forced me to quit smoking cold turkey without my input, dammit.’</p><p>“That’s not my problem, runt.” Masky kicked the bathroom door shut, as he could hear the bustling outside of his housemates getting ready for dinner. He didn’t want anyone to hear him talking with his Mortal. He already shouldered enough shame of being an impure creature, the biting commentary of the Immortal beings stinging nearly as much as alcohol on his open wounds. He focused on Tim once more, finding his mind wandering under the other’s influence. “Don’t lie to me. Whenever I let you run free, you smoke pack, after pack, after pack because Jay takes pity on your sorry ass every time he sees you again and buys them for you.”</p><p>Tim seemed to chuckle and roll his eyes. ‘Sometimes I wonder how he always has the money for all that, piled on with the hotels and cheap takeout.’</p><p>“You’re an awful person and an even worse friend. If I had a shred of compassion for you Mortals, I would actually feel sorry for Jay on your behalf.”</p><p>‘Hey freak, maybe take a look at yourself in this mirror instead of arguing with me about my own bad decisions.’ Tim mumbled, crossing his arms and turning his head away from Masky. ‘We aren’t very different, you and I. You have a little demon kid you left high and dry upstairs, for example- “</p><p>“BEN!” Masky screeched and slapped his hands on the sink, rushing to change back into his clothes when he regained composure. He paused and pointed viciously at the mirror, Tim still facing him with a smug expression on his face. “You didn’t win this, human, get that through your sideburns. Keep complaining and I’ll never let you have control again.”</p>
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